My name is Zoë Colvin and this blog is about pictures and places and books and unusual museums and everything from Z to C (that is, absolutely everything in existence, provided one takes an anarchic view of alphabetical order) Above all, it's an aide memoire for me

Saturday, 8 October 2011

Superficiality

Last time I was in England, a woman swore at me in the street for no apparent reason, I got a parking fine, although only a minute late and in spite of pleading with the parking inspector, and had various other disagreeable encounters. England, I concluded, was going to the dogs.

This time, I've had several shopkeepers call me 'Dear', which I find, as I suppose is logical, endearing, I've had one of them go to great lengths to find me in the street, ten minutes after I'd wandered off, to return my credit card, I've had a passer-by stop and help me with luggage and I've met a really delightful woman doing the flowers in a country church, accompanied by her long-suffering dog:

England, I now realise, is enchanting.

Or, to put it another way, my judgments, when travelling, about the places I pass through are thoroughly superficial and glib.

The church, by the way, was at Swaffham Prior. It has fallen into ruin on occasion, it has another church standing right beside it (two clerical jurisdictions bordered each other within the one village):

plus one of the odder towers I've ever seen:

and some lovely brasses:

as well as stained glass windows that must give the congregation lots to read during dull sermons:

I especially liked the ones commemorating World War One, which I am putting on my other blog.

4 comments:

Steerforth - I read a review of a novel set in Lewes today, should you be looking for reading matter (which I don't suppose you are, given your profession). It's by William NicholsonNurse - I got down on my knees and prayed for your poor depraved soul while I was there. I'm expecting your blog to raise itself imminently from its preoccupation with smut as a result.

Holding On - a novel

I wrote a novel that the London literary agency Sheil Land tried to sell for me. One publisher thought it was "compelling". Another said, "It’s pacy and gripping, and the plot is great." A third commented that it "is a warm, engaging and easy read", while a fourth considered that, "It is a good story (stories) well told". If you want to see what you think, you can find it here.

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About Me

I wrote a novel, represented by Sheil Land. One publisher thought it was "compelling, but it wouldn’t be easy to categorize – it is somewhere between ‘literary’ and ‘commercial’, and would need to be one or the other to be pitched for successfully in an acquisition meeting." Another said, 'It’s pacy and gripping, and the plot is great, but it lacks that lighter women’s fiction feeling. The writing is undeniably good but I’m not quite sure how I would position it on our list.'A third commented that it "is a warm, engaging and easy read but this ‘middle market fiction’ is a really tough area', while a fourth considered that, "It is a good story (stories) well told, but just missing the X-factor that would make me fall in love with it." I wanted to write an entertaining novel that I would like when I was in the mood for something thoughtful & amusing that I could enjoy without too much effort. If you would like to read it yourself, you can find it at http://cargocollective.com/Unrealities/Holding-On-a-novel.